Editorial Note
Committee I of the General Assembly considered disarmament from March 18 to March 21, 1953. It discussed two draft resolutions—one introduced by the United States and 13 other nations (A/C.1/L.30), and one by the Soviet Union (A/C.1/L.31). The 14–power proposal was substantially that contained in the first enclosure to the memorandum by Smith to Lay, dated February 17, page 1104. The Soviet proposal condemned the Western position in the Disarmament Commission. It also provided for the study by the Commission of measures for the reduction of great power forces, and the prohibition of atomic, bacterial, and other weapons of mass destruction, and of procedures for strict international control. The Soviet draft resolution was defeated in the Committee on March 21 by a vote of 41–5–13. The Committee then approved the 14–power resolution by a vote of 50–5–5.
In plenary session of the General Assembly, the 14–power resolution was slightly modified by Soviet amendment and passed (52–5–3) as General Assembly Resolution 704 (VII) “Regulation, Limitation, and Balanced Reduction of All Armed Forces and All Armaments—Report of the Disarmament Commission”, April 8, 1953. [Page 1141] For text, see Documents on Disarmament, 1945–1959, volume I, pages 383–384. Resolution 704 (VII) differed from the draft resolution, printed as the first enclosure to the memorandum by Smith to Lay of February 17, in that the approved resolution did not commend the Disarmament Commission for its efforts to date, but did contain a final phrase expressing the hope that all members of the Commission would cooperate in efforts to produce constructive proposals.
For additional information on consideration of disarmament by the General Assembly at its Seventh Session, see Yearbook of the United Nations, 1953, pages 258–262; U.S. Participation in the UN: Report by the President to the Congress for the Year 1953 (Government Printing Office, 1954), pages 54–56; and Bechhoefer, Postwar Negotiations for Arms Control, pages 202–207.